Understanding Highfield qualifications

Highfield Qualifications is an awarding organisation (exam body) recognised by the qualification regulators for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The regulators are the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) in England, Qualifications Wales (Wales), the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in Northern Ireland, and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) in Scotland.

Highfield International, which is part of Highfield Qualifications, offers an extensive range of regulated, international, and Highfield accredited qualifications as well as certified programmes for delivery outside the UK.

What is an awarding organisation?

An awarding organisation develops and awards qualifications. Other than organising train the trainer courses, it does not deliver training that leads to the achievement of their qualifications, but approves educational institutions, training providers and others to do so.

Highfield, as an awarding organisation, researches, designs and then manages the quality of its portfolio of qualifications to ensure that the qualifications are delivered to a consistent high standard in the UK and internationally.

Highfield promotes its qualifications to potential centres, which may include government departments, universities, schools, colleges, corporate businesses, training providers and employers. Highfield will audit centres to ensure they have the facilities, processes and people to deliver and assess Highfield qualifications to the correct standard.

UK regulated qualifications

Highfield's regulated qualifications

Regulators set the rules that Highfield, and other awarding organisations, must meet when designing and awarding regulated qualifications, particularly around the validity, reliability and standards of the assessments.

Regulated qualifications are taken by learners in England for several reasons, one of the main reasons being that often UK Government funding is linked to qualifications being regulated.

Highfield has a wide range of regulated qualifications in different subject areas and industry sectors, which includes a mixture of short compliance qualifications and the longer technical vocational education & training (TVET) qualifications that prepares learners with the skills to succeed in today’s global economy.

Regulated qualifications are written in conjunction with industry experts and reflect UK legislation and standards. The delivery of these qualifications is quality assured, and the assessments are marked or moderated by Highfield.

You can browse Highfield’s range of regulated qualifications here.

International qualifications

Highfield international qualifications

Highfield international qualifications, which are not regulated by Ofqual, have been developed to meet industry best practice, designed specifically for learners outside the UK and to the same standard of assessment as the regulated qualifications. The only difference is the removal of the UK legislation, enforcement and UK specific systems, allowing centres the flexibility to deliver these international qualifications in compliance with local regulations and requirements.

The course outline, learning outcomes, assessment criteria, content and assessment tools have all been developed by working with sector experts. This ensures that the portfolio of international qualifications offered by Highfield is provided to a high and consistent industry standard.

Highfield is committed to applying equivalent quality assurance principles in delivery and assessment of its qualifications and services internationally, as it applies to regulated qualifications offered and awarded in the UK.

The assessments of Highfield international qualifications are examined, marked or moderated by Highfield.

You can browse Highfield’s range of international qualifications here.

Highfield accredited qualifications

Highfield offers an accreditation service that provides recognition for qualifications that have been developed and designed by other organisations, such as colleges and training providers.

Highfield accredited qualifications are regarded as unregulated qualifications by Ofqual but are designed to the UK awarding standard and must have measurable learning outcomes and assessment criteria that meet the Highfield standard.

While accredited by Highfield, these qualifications are not owned by Highfield, but by the organisation that developed them, who will retain all intellectual property rights (IPR).

Highfield accredited qualifications that are offered by Highfield centres have been reviewed for approval and are subject to ongoing quality assurance by the Highfield quality team ensuring they meet the continued high-level quality requirements of Highfield. The assessments of these qualifications are managed by the owner organisation.

Learners successfully achieving a Highfield accredited qualification will be awarded with a Highfield certificate of achievement, to confirm their new skills and knowledge. The certificates will also display the developing organisation’s logo, which demonstrates Highfield’s confidence and approval of the accredited qualification.

Highfield endorsed programmes

Highfield also provides a service that endorses learning programmes that are developed, designed and owned by other organisations, such as corporate organisations and employers, colleges and training providers. These endorsed programmes will have no measurable learning outcomes or assessments to test learning and as such will not be termed ‘qualifications’. Highfield recognises these training programmes as a training model suitable for the target audience.

If you’d like more information on our accreditation or endorsement services, please contact us.

Highfield certified programmes

Certified programmes

Highfield International offers a suite of manager certification programmes designed to provide evidence that supervisors and managers have obtained a full range of safety qualifications, providing the essential knowledge to manage safety.

Highfield certified programmes are designed and developed by Highfield to convert certification to competence and encourage implementation of best practice with an ongoing CPD requirement.

Programmes combine several qualifications with a requirement to evidence the application of knowledge in the workplace, through effective auditing and management.

Highfield certified programmes are quality assured by Highfield to ensure that they are assessed at the appropriate level.

Learners successfully achieving certified programmes will be awarded with Highfield certificates of achievement.

Learn more about Highfield’s certified programmes here.

Verifying Highfield certification

To help learners, employers and other education providers confirm the authenticity and validity of a Highfield certificate, we offer a free online service called ‘Checkcert’, our certificate verification portal.

This tool is designed to combat qualification fraud and provide protection for both learners and employers.

The Checkcert function can be used for all classifications of qualification.

Your next steps…

We hope that the guidance provided above has given you the information you were looking for, and you now know which type of qualification is best for your business objectives.

I’m already a Highfield approved centre

Contact your centre manager directly and they will take you through the process and ensure you have everything you need to provide your chosen qualification. If you are not sure about which qualification classification works best for you, your centre manager will be happy to advise you.

Thinking of becoming a Highfield-approved centre

We would be delighted to hear from you, and our team will ensure you receive the support you need to become part of the Highfield family and provide advice about the qualifications that best suit your customers and your learners.